Dunne left heartbroken by Euro nightmare

16 June 2012 05:48

The veteran 32-year-old Ireland defender claimed he and his team mates had traveled to Poland with a genuine belief they could lift the trophy.

But after two heavy defeats in their opening games against Croatia (3-1) and Spain (4-0), Giovanni Trapattoni's team have nothing but pride to play for in their last group game against Italy on Monday in Poznan.

Speaking at the team's last training day at their base in Gdynia, north of Gdansk, Dunne, who has won enarly 80 caps since making his debut in 2000, revealed the level of disappointment within the squad.

"We're fans as well," he said.

"We wanted to do well but it's been very difficult for us. The disappointment is massive.

"It's heartbreaking. It's your dream to go and play in a championships and do well and be brilliant but it's just not happened for us. So it's heartbreaking.

"As much as we want to do well, we know we haven't. We're playing against teams who are better than us and it's hard to accept that our best at the moment isn't good enough.

"We want to play against them teams and it's unfortunate.

"We came here with the aim and the dream of winning the European Championships. It's gone completely wrong for us.

"We've lost two, we don't want to lose three. The focus is on the Italy match now. Monday night is all we're worried about.

"The fact we've lost two days in a row is hurting us more than people will imagine. We want to put it right on Monday."

Ireland came into the tournament with one of the best defensive records in European football, having conceded in just three of their last 14 games.

But they let both Croatia and Spain score inside the opening five minutes, and again just moments after half time.

Dunne admits they came up against better teams than them, but can't explain the porous nature of their defence, that had been water tight for so long.

"We've been playing against a different level of team," he conceded.

"We wanted to be the best but we have to hold our hands up.

"We've been beaten by better teams and hopefully on Monday night we can do our thing and we can stamp a bit of authority on the game. We're going to win.

"That's the aim.

"The goals we conceded are just a coincidence, it just happens. That's football. Nothing's changed.

"We're still the same lads doing the same jobs.

"They're getting goals at times which open us up a bit more. It's no reason. Nothing has happened. We haven't turned into bad players overnight it's just on the days, things haven't gone for us.

"We need to make sure we can get through the first 10 minutes without conceding a goal. It's another game, we're representing our country.

"We have to give 100 percent and make sure we can turn the hurt into passion and win the game."